Emergency remote teaching and learning during Covid-19: A recipe for disaster for social work education in the Eastern Cape of South Africa?

Abstract

Though COVID-19 pandemic is a health crisis, it has affected all facets of society including social work education. Students across all disciplines were experiencing disruption in learning due to the closure of higher education institutions resulting from a nationwide lockdown. To minimise the impact of the pandemic on academic programmes, emergency remote teaching and learning has been embarked upon. The aim of this paper was to explore the experiences of social work students and educators vis-à-vis emergency remote teaching and learning and the implications thereof on social work education. The paper adopts a qualitative approach, collecting data through telephonic interviews. Data analysis was thematic. The findings reveal that students expressed feelings of anguish, frustration and a worthless future. Furthermore, they reported that rural infrastructure presents terrifying moments at home, because of limited accessibility to internet connectivity. Social work educators expressed frustration with online teaching and doubted its success. The paper concludes that COVID-19 has clearly shown the disparity between rural-based universities and formerly white ones and the general inequality rocking South Africa. Hence, to prevent social work education from becoming a disaster, measures should be put in place to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus.

Key Terms: COVID-19 pandemic; internet connectivity; emergency remote teaching and learning; data bundles; remote platforms, South Africa